Scottr

UrbanSurfin: Yes, they have gone their own ways over the years, but i still find the parallels interesting. I wonder if perhaps the idea for the original arches in Flint came from Columbus? I imagine there was some interaction between the two cities back then with the connections in the carraige industry, so i would guess that is possible. Seicer: The ornate building in the foreground is the Capitol Theater Building, but it is the tall building further down the road that has chunks of concrete falling off. (I wasn't sure which you were referring to, but the Capitol is somewhat neglected, but in decent shape.) The tall building is called Genesee Towers (plural, although there is only one, and no other was planned) and was built in 1968 as at the headquarters for Genesee Savings Bank, which after a series of mergers is now a long-forgotten part of Chase. It is the tallest building in Flint (19 stories) and has been vacant since 1997. The lower portion is a parking garage, the top part office space. It's been poorly maintained and has been rapidly deteriorating for years. I'd guess it was poorly built in the first place, given its condition. The current owner has done little to stop its demise and the city is considering condemning it for numerous code violations as well as its crumbling facade. Most people around here tend to think of it as an eyesore, especially compared to the art deco Mott Foundation building next to it which is still in use and in great shape. I don't think many will shed a tear should they choose to demolish it. A quick google search for 'Genesee Towers' and you will see that there is little, if any, good to be said about it from almost any source.

You just missed them by a couple months - they were installed in November of 2003. That's a shame that they had so many problems down there, ours surprisingly went flawlessly. Perhaps ours were a simpler design - i don't think ours are fiber optic or could change color. In any case, I hope it works out soon; looking at pictures of them, they look fantastic. The entire area looks much like many of us hope downtown Flint will look like in a few years, at least from what i can tell of the pictures I've seen. I did read that about Columbus' carriage industry, apparently the largest manufacturer was located there. We had several companies, which gave us the distinction of producing the most total. It's surprising how closely parts of the two cities' histories mirror each other.

Flint first put them up in 1899 to replace the old gas lanterns that lit the street before. They took them down 20 years later. A few years ago they put up new replica arches with donations from individuals, organizations and businesses. The northern and southernmost arches say Flint -Vehicle City as a tribute to the city's history as the worlds largest producer of horse-drawn carriages - not cars as many think. I didn't know that about Columbus, it seems very similar to what happened in Flint - we just didn't have any problems with our new ones. I'm not sure how hi-tech Columbus' arches are, but these in Flint are controlled by photocells and timers and can be adjusted for different brightness levels. They look great at night and in my opinion do a lot to give downtown a unique appearance - at least compared to other cities in Michigan, apparently.

No, it was back in use by then - it reopened in 1995. The playing surface had been declared unsafe, so it was replaced and i'm pretty sure there were a few other safety improvements - just enough to get by though, since it needed a multi-million dollar overhaul (just that part was $2 million). Since then, they've done a bit at a time as they've raised the money. I believe it's getting pretty close to completion, actually.

Hayward, you'll be happy to know that about 2/3rds of the seats were replaced with new padded seats last year, and i believe other renovations went on too. The west portion remains to be done last I knew. Just from the little I have seen of it, it's in fantastic shape compared to when I was in high school. I probably saw it at its worst, having been there for a marching band competition my freshman year, and then it was closed the next year, in 1992. I remember the talk about renovating it back then - I never imagined that 15 years later we would still be waiting for it to be completed, but at least it is getting done, however slowly.

The first floor used to be covered in granite slabs, and the original cornice had been removed, both of which were corrected in the restoration. The rest of the building is pretty much the same on the outside, although it's been cleaned. there's a picture here - it's not my pic, so i'll just link to it. The rest of the site has some more pictures of flint, particularly under 'uptown reinvestment', just keep in mind, these are some pretty old photos, but can give an idea what has happened in the past few years. http://www.roweincorp.com/focusweb/UptownReinvest/URC_large_view_of_republic_bank.htm

Not a problem, it's nice to see interest in Flint from outside the area. http://www.uptowndevelopments.com/home.html is what i would guess is the 'official' site, although it is somewhat confusing to navigate. It does have a rendering of the loft, however. if you're looking for larger, closer pictures of the First Street Lofts building, this topic has several from the renovation: http://urbanflint.com/forum/index.php/topic,169.0.html There are more pictures elsewhere on that forum I believe.

I found this page from a post on detroityes.com, I thought I would fill in some information for you guys. The building in the second pic that UncleRando comments on is the Capitol Theater Building. It contains a once-beautiful, long-closed atmospheric theater designed by John Eberson and operated by WS Butterfield and completed in 1928. If by chance you've seen the State Theater in Kalamazoo, Mi, it is similar, although is designed as a roman courtyard. You may find this interesting, if you're the theater type like I am, it has some pictures and a video regarding the restoration: http://www.capitoltheatrebuilding.com/ The B&W picture of Saginaw st below the picture of the Mott Foundation Building, has the Rowe Engineering building being constructed in dead center. It combined three older buildings into one which will contain a restaurant, a nightclub, lofts, and the offices/headquarters for Rowe Engineering, a civil engineering firm. Probably one of the best projects going on downtown, since it brings jobs, entertainment, food, and living space to the downtown area. The two buildings just outside this picture on the right are also slated for redevelopment, housing the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, lofts, and hopefully retail and a restaurant. Just below that, the building to the left on the corner, does indeed have a new facade, based on old photographs of the building. it has been renovated with loft apartments recently. (having been inside them, i can say they're beautiful and i wish i could live there). The building just to the right of that is the Land Bank Center, which was recently renovated from the former Hughes and Hatcher Building. The Durant Hotel is planned to be student housing of sorts, mostly for grad students, to complement the new dorms that UM-Flint will be constructing soon. The 'building on the left' the name of which was forgotten is the Northbank Center, owned by UM-Flint, and right across the street from the Durant Hotel. Behind this is the former site of Autoworld, and the site of the new White Building, part of UM-Flint, which owns the entire AutoWorld site. The Berridge Hotel is also slated for redevelopment as condos. The factories along the river you speak of, I believe you refer to the old Delphi West (Chevy in the hole) plants. Look for a lot of great things happening there, from R&D to parks to new residential. There's some discussion going on now on how to handle it exactly, like whether they go for a wide or narrow river plan. Not to mention the hesitation to jump into any large project all at once after the AutoWorld fiasco. Most of the things happening now are piecemeal, a bit at a time, and probably more likely to last. A lot of good things happening in Flint, at least downtown. A lot of problems to overcome, no doubt about it, by no means is all hope lost. And kingfish, I also hate Michael Moore. :)